Who Am I
Who am I? What am I? Am I the body, mind or something more?
These are age old questions that every philosopher throughout the
ages has tried to grasp and understand. After all, how will you
know what to do in life if you do not even know who or what you
are? The ancient Vedic scriptures of India, namely the
Bhagavad-Gita provides the clearest answers to these questions.
Everyone is thinking or labelling himself or herself as, "I am
Indian", "I am Chinese" or "I am American", which is acceptable
from a practical point of view but in reality these designations
are temporary. All these are identifications of the body in
relation to the surrounding environment and society, all of which
are only temporary. If we analyze our body obviously we would not
say, "I body". Generally we would say, "This is my body". Just like
we refer to other objects, for example, "this is my car" or "this
is my hand phone" similarly the body is also a separate material
object just like our hand phones or cars.
So the question is, what are we? Are we something more than the
body, perhaps the mind? But even the mind does not belong to us.
Everyone says, "my mind is killing me", "my mind is thinking about
something", "my mind this" and "my mind that". We also refer to
other objects as "my house", "my country", etc.
Our real nature is spirit soul and we are currently trapped in
our current body for a limited time period. The real me or the
person "I" is actually the spirit soul which resides within the
region of the heart. It is this particle, which makes our heart
pump, and provides consciousness throughout the whole body. This is
where the soul or the real we resides.
The soul is the cause of life in the sense that it makes the
gross body appear alive. Actually the soul is the life force. The
body on the other hand is never alive; the body is just like a
machine. In other words the body is like a car, and the soul, its
driver. An ignorant person may see a car from a distance and think
it is moving on its own strength. But a knowledgeable person
understands that without a driver, it cannot move. Matter by nature
is lifeless and requires a spirit; just like a machine cannot
function without an operator. The body consists of chemicals and
does not move without the presence of the soul. The best evidence
of this is when a person dies. At the time of death all bodily
functions stop. Once the soul is gone, the chemicals start to
disintegrate, and no scientist can stop this process. Therefore the
difference between a dead body and a living body is the presence of
the soul. Actually death means the changing of body; the soul
accepts a new body thus giving up its old and useless one.
"As a person puts on new garments, giving up the old ones, the
soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and
useless ones."
The soul by nature is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge.
It is fully spirit and is distinct from matter; it was never
created "nor" can it be destroyed. It is the soul, which is the
life force and that which moves inert matter. Matter on the other
hand is dead. It cannot act on its own and it subject to creation
and destruction. The body, which we dwell upon, is just a
combination of material elements. One who has realized the self
(soul) within identifies with the soul distinct from the outer
material body. But such people are very rare in today's world.
There are so many wars today because people identify themselves as
Indians, Chinese, Americans, Europeans, or belonging to this group
or that group. All of them are falsely identifying with the outer
material body as the self and not with the real self, the spirit
soul. Real bliss and happiness come to a person who identifies with
the spirit soul. Frustration, envy, lust, greed and hatred are all
symptoms of misidentification with the material body.
If a person wants to be happy then he should address the needs
of the soul within the body, not just the outer material body that
most often brings about anxiety. Some people may be externally
happy but internally they are always disturbed. A person who
realizes he is not the body but a spirit soul within the body is
always peaceful and happy. Here is an interesting story to
illustrate this. A man bought an expensive cage for his bird. He
spent most of his time cleaning and polishing the cage but he
failed to feed the bird within. One fine day due to starvation the
bird died. The cage refers to our body and the bird refers to the
soul within. We are suffering spiritual starvation.
Nobody is truly happy in this world. One should address the
needs of the soul to experience a blissful life. One can begin to
address the needs of the soul by chanting the Maha Mantra and begin
to experience real happiness.
Maha Mantra
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hara
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
For more information on addressing the needs of the soul, please
contact:
Devakinandan Dasa 90606870
Pushpa Gopala Dasa 93682060